Starting Chemo in JAN 2007

Thanks Skye,

I sent Jan a PM about the chat room.

What a traumatic experience with those dogs. We have a few neighbors around us who let the dog out when they are in the yard. My hubby is the one who walks, though, and so far the dogs haven't run at him. Those big ones can worry a person even when they are "friendly."

There was a lady mauled to death near here last year. She was in her own yard and a neighbor's Rottweiler-Pit Bull mixes (6 dogs) got loose. It was in an unincorporated area of a neighboring county so there weren't any leash laws or animal control laws that could be enforced. The lady's family and the state legislator for her area sponsored a bill this term. I can't remember if it passed. The owner of the dogs stood trial for murder, but they could only prove negligence.

You are right to be cautious.

Debbie, I sent my email to Jan. Did she send it to you, or should I send it? I haven't received a pm.

Skye, that info re the dog scares me for you. Are you sure the police or animal control can't help you? Would your husband talking to the guy help? I don't usually ask my husband to do stuff like that, but I sure would if I felt unsafe in my own neighborhood. You need to feel like you can walk and regain your strength.

I had a nice day, busy but I think I am coming out of my funk. It's beautifully sunny and warm, and I went to the Farmer's Mkt, the library, did some gardening. I am looking forward to pampering my husband a bit tomorrow. I hope everyone else had a good day too. Sharon and Nancy and Mary and Mel, I hope you are all feeling better.

Night all,
Melia

Quote:

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Debbie, I sent my email to Jan. Did she send it to you, or should I send it? I haven't received a pm.

Night all,
Melia

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Hi, Melia, I got an email from someone. I think it was Jan. I had checked my inbox a couple of times before I noticed that I had something in the junk mail folder. You guessed it it was the link to the chat room. I moved it to the inbox, and I'll try to be there Tuesday.

Thanks

Jan, sorry about your hubby, so scary that he passed out and hit his head. I logged into chatzy but now when I go back in it says it's it's being used by a registered user with my name and if I am that person I must log in, but I can't figure out how to do that. Help! Okay I figured it out. I went to log in, didn't know the password, had it sent to me and then changed it and told my computer to keep me logged in, so I think I'm okay. Hopefully no one else has this problem. See ya Tues. Happy Father's Day. Hope you feel better real soon Shorti.

Nancy - glad you like your new boobs. I felt great with my prosthesis the moment I got it. It looks and feels so normal that I am sort of hedging on getting reconstruction. I will see how the girls here do with it.

Melia - hope you are feeling better.

Debbie - welcome to the group. We have a nice caring bunch of women here.

skye - what a horrifying experience with the dogs. Could a few of the neighbours get together and either A - talk to the dog owner or B - get the cops to talk to the dog owner. I think I mentioned recently how when I was a 16 my boyfriend's dog was jealous of me and nearly mauled me - then two weeks later it nearly ripped apart a 7 year old boy's arm - they had the dog destroyed - I have no tolerance for people who let their dogs run wild...

Jan - how's your DH - poor guy, what a terrifying experience for him. I hope his Father's Day will be better.

Shorti - glad you are feeling better. Where is the lodge downtown - Is it in PMH. Let me know, maybe I could pop by and visit you when I come down for a Herceptin infusion. Try Cotton Ginny for great elastic waist pants and shorts.

Viddie - sound like you are having a great time reconnecting with DD. Enjoy it - and I know what you mean about the food - it seems I am buying all sorts of extra things when my DDs are home - but that is okay.

I'm off to make some choc. chip cookies - can you believe I have another family get together tomorrow night - another cousin and her fiancee are visiting from Florida so there is a dessert and coffee night for us - well, as I told you all recently - that old Yiddish expression - Run to a simcha (celebration), walk to a funeral. So I am running (not literally, wish I could, don't have the energy).
Have a great Father's Day everyone
hugs
caya

Viddie,
Glad you are having fun with your girl. How did taxol 9 go? Only three more; you are so much more stoic than I am! Caya, what a fun weekend. You will need to rest afterwards, but have a blast in the meantime. And Nancy, so glad you are feeling better. I have been on lasix since Thurs and nothing is better, but nothing is worse, so I guess that's fine!

Hi Ladies,

Went to the Relay for Life on Friday night. I got emotional a couple times, seeing all the survivors and the luminarias in memory of people. All the fundraisers I’ve attended in the past were always about someone else, it was weird that this time it was about me. The survivor lap was a bit emotional…so many caring people. We will definitely have a team and do the entire relay next year.

I woke up yesterday morning with additional pain around where my port was removed. It wasn’t where the incision is, but about 2 inches above it. Looked in the mirror and its all red. It got worse all day and by evening it was extremely tender, red and hot to the touch. Called the Onc who said it sound like an infection and I need to go to ER, can’t wait until Monday. So DH and I head to the ER on a Saturday night..woo hoo! They did blood tests and cultures, gave me a really nasty shot of antibiotics in my butt and sent me home with percecets and antibotics and told me to follow up with my Onc on Monday. They think the tunnel where the port was got infected. We got home at 3:30am.

Debby, welcome to our group!

Viddie, sounds like you are having a great time with your daughter. Nothing like spending quality time so the time goes by faster and before you know it, you’ll be all done with chemo!

Skye, I agree with the other girls, you should not feel afraid to walk in your own neighborhood. Have the cops or animal control give the guy a visit.

Caya, so sorry about your continued issues. I said the exact same thing to my dh last night. My feet are still swelling, I’m already sick of driving to rads every day and now this..I need a break!

Sharon, so glad you are on the mend and feeling better each day! Whew!

Jan, what an awful experience for your husband. Geesh, passing out while you alone at the emergency room..who would have thunk? I wonder if he got the same antibiotic shot I got last night, it was by far the most painful shot I can remember. Hope he’s feeling better.

Mel, hang in there, you’ve had it tough too. Hopefully your drains can come out this week!

Melia and Viddie, only 3 more! Woo Hoo!!!

Pat, nice to meet you and welcome to our group! I had ILC as well. You are triple negative? I believe it’s rare for ILC to be ER-. Only 3 more taxols for you too!

Big hugs to everyone, we sure are getting pulled through the wringer.

Hi Pat,
Welcome to our group. Viddie and I each have three more of the 12 taxols left. I did four a/c and although I think I feel better on taxol, the cumulative effect of the drugs is getting to me. I had four cm idc, no nodes ... we are all getting there!

Amera, you give me hope that there really is hair at the end of this tunnel!

Lynn, so sorry you have an infection. Hope your poor sore bottom is better today; we have had so many shots. The Relay for Life sounds wonderful.

Off for a bike ride with dh and a late lunch at our fav greek cafe to celebrate FDay. Poor guy gets so little attention these days.

Melia

Hey Skye, my daughter had her kidney transplant in 2001. A couple of weeks later she went for a walk in the neighborhood and a lady had just let her dogs out in the un-fenced backyard. The two dogs (and they were big) immediately ran to my daughter who was walking on the sidewalk and one of them bit her. It didn't break the skin, but she had a nice big bruise on her arm. The lady just said, "sorry" and that was it. However, I called animal control and asked them to talk to the lady. We didn't want them to issue a ticket, but she needed to know that authorities were aware of what she was doing. She was breaking the law and I also wanted to have a paper trail in case something did happen. I also took a picture of my daughter's arm, in case it got infected. It never did, but my daughter was able to continue her walks along the same route and never saw the dogs again. My husband loves to go for walks, and he always has a walking stick with him for that very reason. They work very well as defense mechanisms against dogs.
On a happier note, last Friday I was in my car waiting for the light to turn green, when the driver in the car next to me honked her horn. I looked at her, and she motioned for me to roll down my window, which I did. She then yelled, "last year I had hair just like you and look at me now." She had long, thick curly hair. Aren't bc sisters great? They know just what to say.
Pat, welcome to the group. The more the merrier.

Hi Gals, just got back from my weekend. We returned a day early after getting some unexpected and sad news from our cat sitter. Our eldest cat Bunky died in his chair while we were gone. She visited twice on Saturday, and I had called midday and heard that he was doing fine, good mood, good appetite, so this was a very sudden blow. But he was a very old cat definitely on the decline, and we were hoping to give him one last, very pampered summer.

Haven't read anybody's posts, but it is very nice to see that Shorti is back, and also to see that we have a post from Robertin.

Will catch up with more news later...

Mizsissy

welcome we always welcome a new face here , hang out and let us in on how you are .
I am off on Tues to the Lodge in Toronto , Caya its on Jarvis Street and is not in Princess Margararet , I have my own room with another bed and if it gets buzy they add a roommate , but i do not expect that . Getting packed tomorrow and should start my rads on Wed , will know more Monday . There is a shuttle bus that transports people from the lodge to PM and Sunnybrook for treatments . The main reason for the lodge is for people like me who have to travel long distances or have othe medical problems which makes it difficult to receive what you need to get better . There are a few places like it in Ontario.
I am only going to be there for 2 weeks , just until i get my belly better ........ and its goin to be colourful its gay pride week in TO , the weather is supposed to be hot so I imagine in between treatments I will have alot to see
Weekends I am home so I will be long gone when all the parades start and the fun begins

Will touch base when I get set up .... all have a good week !

Pat – Welcome and join right in, we are happy to have you. We have been chatting on Tues and Thurs nights and just set up our own chat room for this purpose. If you would like to join us sometime please PM me with your email address and I'll send the link to you.

Mary – I can’t figure out your chat room problem with chatzy. I don’t have to log in our out at all – there isn’t even a place for that. I looked in all the help questions and can’t find anything. I’ll keep working on it and see if I can figure it out. Does it make a difference if you try again after your computer has been turned off or restarted?

DH is feeling better. Still feeling bad from the sinus infection, but his head and leg are recovered from his fall. The girls wanted to get him a video game for father’s day – so we did. Well…today when he opened it the case was empty. Really weird because it was shrink wrapped and everything. We ended up going to 2 stores before we found one with the game in stock so we could exchange it (that was 1.5 hours of driving around – fun). Other than that it was a decent day. I fell asleep while putting my 3 year old down for a nap and slept for over an hour. Oops

Nancy – Glad the swelling is starting to go away. I hope it continues to get better!

Lynn – so sorry you had to spend Sat. night in the ER. That sounds horrible. I hope the antibiotics kick in quickly.

Amera – going topless! That’s awesome! Good for you. I can’t wait until my scalp is covered!

RobbinJaye – sent you the chat invite. I am SO glad that you are almost finished rads – then you can start healing. I know just what you mean about feeling safe during treatment. Actively doing something is a much more secure feeling than being done. Now I am focusing on eventual reconstruction, but I find myself thinking about recurrence all of the time.

Robertin – I love the story about the lady in the car next to you. That is so cool.

Sharon – the lodge in Toronto sounds nice. I hope all goes well there. Glad that you will have an internet connection.

Mizsissy – I am so, so sorry to hear about Bunky. My sympathies.

Hello all:

Mizsissy, so sorry about your kitty, that is so hard to go thru.

Dan & I drove up to Banff on Friday. It was really a nice day. We went to the Banff Springs Hotel, built in the 1800’s by CP Rail. We also went out to Lake Minnewanka. It wasn’t all that warm here this weekend, in fact last night in snowed up in Kananaskis. Heavy wet snow, but it stayed around for most of the day! Yikes…summer is suppose to start on the 21st.

I had lunch with a group of my girlfriends yesterday. It was nice to catch up on everything. My lunch with Dar last week was really lots of fun, and she’s really nice. I’m jealous of all of her hair!! Thanks Jan for posting the pic for us.

Lynn, I don’t like the sound of that port infection. Make sure you keep us posted on your progress.

Shorti, sounds like your going to have some fun in TO. I’m finished 14 of 20 rads, although I have 4 fields each day. I’m a little bit pink now, and I’m using the Glaxall cream they gave me. I find myself very tired, although it could be the weather too. I ironed almost all afternoon today, and watched the US Open Golf tourney.

Skye, those people should not be allowed to have animals if they can’t even control them. That is not fair that you should have to be denied your walk because they are irresponsible.

Cindy how many rads do you have to have? Mary, some deal on the free shuttle if you have to drive that far!! Jan thanks for setting up the chat room, so what times on Tuesday & Thursday? 8:30 ET or 9:00 ET? Caya sounds like you had a funfilled weekend.

Nancy, I thought that was a lot of money for my prothesis too! Did you also buy separate ones for swimming? Did anyone buy the swimming one?

Melia, Nancy & now Viddie hope you are feeling better and the swelling goes down quickly. RobbinJaye, so with your rads how many are they going to skip? Glad that you still have Internet.

Mel, hope you feel better soon.

Welcome to Debbie and Pat.

Oh, and now I only wear a baseball cap to my rads. My hair is coming back in slowly, but it is coming in very dark…with a bit of silver here and there.

Big hugs to all!! Joni

Dar, my SIl is a colorist in Boston and she came w/me to the store and chose Loreal Natural Match...she felt the ingredients were better than what some of the other products contained. I did end up using Loreal Preference for a more lasting color. I'm happy to report that my repeated washings w/dish deterg. faded the black Elvira look to a very normal brown But no more Dark Ash Brown for me....sticking to medium solely. I'd say my grey is abotu as much as Robbin's. I dyed it so soon though, it's hard to tell... I'm much more comfortable with it brown and it's so inexpensive to do myself...plus the convenience of not having to wait for an appt.

Oh, my "spotting" turned into period #2 post chemo. You are right Dar...I didn't think Tamoxifen could have caused uterine cancer in 8 weeks.